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Gerhart Otto "Gerry" Neugebauer[Note 1] (3 September 1932 – 26 September 2014) was anAmericanastronomer known for his pioneering work ininfrared astronomy.
Neugebauer was born inGöttingen,Germany and was the son ofOtto Neugebauer, an Austrian-Americanmathematician andhistorian of science, and Grete Bruck. After moving to the United States at age seven, he received his B.A. in physics fromCornell University in 1954 and his Ph.D. in physics fromCalifornia Institute of Technology in 1960, with a thesis on the photoproduction of negative and positivepions fromdeuterium.
After completing his doctorate degree, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in theUnited States Army. He was stationed at theJet Propulsion Laboratory where he worked for theOrdnance Corps until 1962. He joined the Caltech faculty in 1962 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor of physics in 1970. He was namedHoward Hughes Professor in 1985 and Chairman of the Division of Physics, Math and Astronomy in 1988. At the time of his death, he was theRobert Andrews Millikan Professor of Physics, Emeritus and an adjunct faculty member of the University of Arizona's Steward Observatory.
Neugebauer served as the director of thePalomar Observatory from 1980 to 1994.
Neugebauer was active in infrared astronomy, and played a leading role in infrared studies of theplanets. In addition—and largely through his activities with theInfrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) and theInfrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC)—he led both ground- and space-based infrared studies of thestars, theMilky Way and othergalaxies. Observations by him and his colleagues atMount Wilson and Palomar observatories revealed thousands of infrared sources in the sky, and afforded the first infrared view of theGalactic Center. Together withRobert B. Leighton, he completed theTwo-Micron Sky Survey, the first infrared survey of the sky, which cataloged more than 5,000 infrared sources. Together withEric Becklin, he discovered theBecklin–Neugebauer Object, an intense source of infrared radiation in theOrion Nebula that is one of the brightest objects in the sky at wavelengths less than 10 micrometres.
Neugebauer played a role in the design and construction of theW. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Among Neugebauer's numerous awards are two NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals (1972, 1984), the 1985 Space Science Award of theAmerican Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the 1985 Richmyer Lecture Award, the 1986Rumford Prize, the 1996Henry Norris Russell Lectureship, the 1998Herschel Medal, and the 2010Bruce Medal.[1] He was named California Scientist of the Year for 1986 by theCalifornia Museum of Science and Industry, and he was elected to theNational Academy of the Sciences, theAmerican Philosophical Society, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences and theRoyal Astronomical Society.
Neugebauer was married to thegeophysicistMarcia Neugebauer, a pioneer insolar wind research at theJet Propulsion Laboratory, and the two resided in Tucson, Arizona. He died on 26 September 2014 in Tucson, due tospinocerebellar ataxia.[2]
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